As most of you know, 276 girls from Chibok, Nigeria — a report today suggested that eight more from elsewhere may have been added to that total — have been kidnapped by that country’s anti-Western education group Boko Harum, which opposes western education (and its liberating effect on the minds and status of young girls.) That group — nominally Muslim but with a harsh philosophy unlike any example of that religion that you’ll see in Orange County — intends to sell them off, presumably as wives for willing buyers.

Whatever else we individually and collectively can do, this gives us a chance to better understand the concept of slavery.

Slavery is a powerful term, not merely historically, but today. It’s a term that should be well understood — and not misused.

In the Filipino community, into which I have married, press reports surface regularly about workers who are taken to the U.S., to the Middle East, and other places where their passports are taken by their employers and they have to work without compensation or the ability to leave. That’s slavery. It’s also kidnapping. Slavery of this sort can be thought of as a form of kidnapping, where it is combined with forced labor.

Forced labor can involve sex work — whereupon it becomes not only kidnapping, but also rape. Of course, some sex workers participate in that activity voluntarily. In such cases, it may be illegal, but it’s not kidnapping and it’s not rape. Where the sex worker is underage and can’t provide legal consent for their activities, it can still technically be kidnapping, but it is considered statutory rape (when the minor is below a state’s “age of consent.”)

Groups like Californians Against Slavery have argued that statutory rape where the participants give what, if they were older, would appear to be consent is the same as the traditional view of rape and should be punished accordingly. This group pushed through Proposition 35 in 2012, which may be taken to convert sexual activity among students at the same high school into rape — and in some cases, as their name applies, even into slavery. This is a big reason why some of us opposed Proposition 35: the notion that a 16-year-old girl voluntarily in a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old boy who takes her away from home overnight deserves to be mentioned in the same category — “human trafficking” — as what is happening to the girls taken from Chibok is repulsive.

That doesn’t mean that I condone the high school example — but merely that I have a sense of proportion about it. If you’re fighting against underage sex itself, as opposed to forced underage sex under conditions that satisfy the elements of kidnapping, you don’t deserve credit for “fighting slavery.” Go after domestic servants who can’t leave their jobs, or women confined against their will in brothels, and you do.

But even those horrors are not as bad as slavery gets. In a legal system of “chattel slavery,” the possession of another human being is legalized kidnapping. The slave belongs to the master. Sometimes the slaves have their own personal rights; under some systems, slaves could have families and the control over their lives that that implies. Sometimes the rights of the slave belong to the master, such as when the Bible sets penalties for harming another person’s human “property.” And sometimes slaves have no rights at all.

The United States had one of the worst systems of slavery known, under which the family unit itself was deemed unworthy of respect. Any human bond — husband and wife, parent and child, sibling — could be broken at the master’s will. Family members could be sold off, shipped away, never to be seen again — as simple commerce or as punishment. That was part of our law.

What is happening to the girls of Chibok captures our attention and horror because it is an attempt to impose that terrible form of chattel slavery — real, true “human trafficking” — onto innocent young girls. All slavery is bad; all slavery must be fought. But this rises to the level of a crime against humanity — and that is the truth that we feel in our hearts when we hear about it and feel something far deeper than normal moral disgust. This is the true evil that we sometimes claim to fight — even when we are doing much less.

The hashtag is #BringBackOurGirls. So, now that we have a hashtag, what are we going to do about it?

It’s a “teachable moment” — and one of the things that we’re going to learn about is … ourselves.

About Greg Diamond

Somewhat verbose worker's rights and government accountability attorney, residing in northwest Brea. General Counsel of CATER, the Coalition of Anaheim Taxpayers for Economic Responsibility, a non-partisan group of people sick of local corruption.
Deposed as Northern Vice Chair of DPOC in April 2014 when his anti-corruption and pro-consumer work in Anaheim infuriated the Building Trades and Teamsters in spring 2014, who then worked with the lawless and power-mad DPOC Chair to eliminate his internal oversight.
Occasionally runs for office to challenge some nasty incumbent who would otherwise run unopposed. (Someday he might pick a fight with the intent to win rather than just dent someone. You'll know it when you see it.) He got 45% of the vote against Bob Huff for State Senate in 2012 and in 2014 became the first attorney to challenge OCDA Tony Rackauckas since 2002.
None of his pre-putsch writings ever spoke for the Democratic Party at the local, county, state, national, or galactic level, nor do they now.
A family member co-owns a business offering campaign treasurer services to Democratic candidates and the odd independent. He is very proud of her. He doesn't directly profit from her work and it doesn't affect his coverage. (He does not always favor her clients, though she might hesitate to take one that he truly hated.)
He does advise some local campaigns informally and (so far) without compensation. (If that last bit changes, he will declare the interest.)

11 Comments

As a mom I cannot even fathom how upset I would be if this happened to my child. I’ve read about human trafficking before, but never a concrete example. What the hell is going on in this world when someone believes they have the right to kidnap another person (any age) and enslave them? Women are still the main target ( a close second are LGBTs) when it comes to being abused and murdered — legally. The Middle East comes to mind. They still allow honor killings and public stoning for transgressions (not the men, the women).

I remember a story a few years ago in the SF Chronicle that women from Asian countries thought they were going to work “legitimately” in the U.S. and ended up getting their passports taken and then they were forced to work in SF massage parlors.

I’ve read other stories that some parents in 3rd world countries sold their daughters to be sex slaves. I find it all to be disgusting and discouraging.

On the upside, I am so happy to read stories like the ones about Malala Yousefzy who (even at such a young age) has the courage to stand up for the rights of children. I know she has parents that taught her, but it still takes great determination and strength to fight against thousands of years of (so-called) tradition.

*It seems we are a bit late. Those “Somali Pirate Look Alikes” just killed 150 innocents in a raid against humanity. The girls have all been sold, signed, sealed and delivered already. We need to take this warlord our by way of the nearest Russian Costco and get the 100 Drone package for a good discount rate.

Its not just the Boko Harum who are to blame, its the ones who buy the women/girls/slaves. Why is there demand for them?

As long as groups blame or justify behavior on a warped ideology as to why they do things, nothing will change. We are ALL responsible for the choices we make…not an invisible man in the sky.

There is never justification to act the way these type of people do. I don’t think dropping drone missiles are the answer either. I don’t have the answers but we have to change the way we think as well. We always seem to choose more violence… how’s it been working so far?

*Inge, again….rather complicated. Ever heard of Natalie Holloway? Aruba is renowned for being a good location to pick up white slaves for the various houses of ill repute in Venezula and other places in South America. The Russian mobs are all in on Eastern European girls and they have become Global. The Nigerian School Girls become wives of old rich Arabs….who may have harems up to 100 or more. There is always a market for young baby virgins…..and sadly very difficult to eradicate.

An article at Slate “Why Fear Boko Haram” by Eliza Griswold, explains this terrible act as something more than opposition to “western education”. She points the roots of this conflict on a corrupt Nigerian government, stealing billions from the country’s oil wealth, and failing to protect its own citizens most of whom live in poverty.

Inge, a follow up to a couple of your comments in this thread :1) Paco Barragan has written several essays here about local experiences of human trafficking. 2)” We always seem to choose more violence… how’s it been working so far?” The threat of violence worked for Cliven Bundy, didn’t it?

*Inge and Richard, http://www.transafrica.org is another good one. It explains how the BH came for motorcycle gang roots, ultra right wing muslims and anti-government. Sounds like a lovely combination…..eh? As we mentioned initially, “Somali Pirate Look-a-Likes!” or “Gangs without a country!”

*Inge and Richard, http://www.transafrica.org is another good one. It explains how the BH came from motorcycle gang roots, ultra right wing muslims and anti-government. Sounds like a lovely combination…..eh? As we mentioned initially, “Somali Pirate Look-a-Likes!” or “Gangs without a country!”

*They just revealed that all those 9 and 10 year old girls that were stolen, have already been sold for $12 a piece. Some are being kept as sex slaves and doing KP for the Boko Harem field terrorists..